


Searching for Balance

by yuletide_archivist



Category: Blade: The Series
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-12-20
Updated: 2006-12-20
Packaged: 2018-01-25 07:14:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,685
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1638389
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yuletide_archivist/pseuds/yuletide_archivist
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After Whistler's death Blade comes to terms with the fact that he needs a new partner.  Along the way he meets Shen.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Searching for Balance

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Abby

 

 

 

 

Blade's life was ruled by emotion, yet emotion was something he rarely let other people see. Whistler's death had been a hard punch to the gut and the only way to deal with the burning feeling in his chest was to use the pain. So he did. Drake's death put the vampire nation in a tailspin. Blade knew that Danica's house wasn't the only one working on projects involving manipulating the vampire virus. Every vampire pure blood or turned blood wanted to be a daywalker. He had to make sure he kept that from happening.

Whistler's daughter, he always called her Whistler's daughter never Abigail, along with Hannibal King took him to see the other operations that the Nightstalkers had set up in towns with large vampire populations.

He'd seen seven cities already and every visit was the same. Seven operations, each with a different feel or flavor, yet all were fundamentally the same. He never spoke to anyone other than Whistler's daughter or King. He mocked the operations he visited much in the same way he had when he'd first learned of the Nightstalkers existence. He poked holes through their bravado. He had sparring matches with those that claimed to be fighters and left most of them either hunched over in pain or hobbling away while trying to apply pressure to their bleeding cuts and scrapes. He would let the techie's try to impress him for approximately thirty seconds before he would look to whoever was guiding him on this tour and ask if the inhaler delivery system for his serum had been replicated yet. Once the answer of no was vocalized Blade would turn and walk away signaling the completion of his visit.

They left King behind in city number eight. And while finishing up in city number nine Abigail informed Blade that it was the end of the line for her. She'd made arrangements for Blade to visit the New Orleans operation, but he would be going alone.

Blade made the trip to New Orleans alone replaying his last conversation with Whistler's daughter in his head the whole way.

_"I'm sorry to just disappear on you like this. King isn't really qualified to run security and make weapons. He can smart mouth a vamp and get himself beaten up damn well, but he's not exactly partner material. I really thought you'd have found someone you wanted to work with by now, it's why we brought you all these places. Help you find a new partner."_

"Partner. I don't need a partner. The Nightstalkers have all the technology I need and a network of ears to the ground all over the world. I'll be fine on my own."

"Right. You're a big ole loner who doesn't need anyone. Didn't you end up with a familiar running your security the last time you were without a partner you could trust?"

The more Blade replayed Abigail's parting words in his head the more he thought about Whistler. Whistler had truly been a partner. He didn't just make weapons and listen out for leads. Their roles were different, but both had been equally important in the ongoing fight. Whistler was someone he trusted, someone he knew was going to tell it to him straight. Blade didn't think there was anyone in the world now that Whistler was gone that he could trust. Whistler's daughter could have become a sufficient partner given enough time, but she was more useful to him training and organizing the growing number of people who wanted to be a part of the ongoing war with the vampire nation.

The more Blade considered the need for having someone at his side, the more discouraged he became. Nine cities and not a single person he could tolerate much less respect and trust with his life.

Then he arrived in New Orleans. The moment he set foot inside the city he knew that New Orleans would be different. Everything about the city was different, always had been. The humans were different; the vampires were different, there was reason to hope that the Nightstalkers here would be different as well.

Hope. There was that damn emotion rearing its ugly head again.

Their organization was out in the old Warehouse District. Instead of just going in and getting the lay of the land, he scoped this group out from outside first. Everything he saw was different, or at least it seemed at face value. He went inside and began to question the people inside. It only took talking to one person for the hope to start to fade.

He couldn't figure out if it was the damn heat or just the general insanity that flowed through the air that made people in the Crescent City seem so damn different, but he knew that once he stripped away the top layer of "laissez les bon temps rouler" insanity all he was going to be left with was the same people he'd met everywhere else. People who were smart, resourceful and hated vampires. That still wasn't what he needed to find.

Discouragement had begun to set in when Shen walked through the door and spoke.

"So Daywalker graces our fine establishment here with his presence. Glad you could come for a visit."

"Asian boy's got jokes."

He knew then for the first time that there was a chance he could finally feel complete again without Whistler. Blade had gotten used to the anger he felt all the time being a part of who he was, but the new mix of sadness with it was starting to take its toll on him. He needed a distraction as well as someone to keep his focus on what the real goals were.

Shen was the first person who didn't look at Blade as a hero or a savior. He spoke sincerely and honestly but without the hidden desire for approval or praise. He was young, as were a large majority of all the new people he'd met in the previous months. However, it only took a moment of being in Shen's presence to sense the amount of pain he'd already suffered in his life. He'd seen a lot, and he'd suffered loss, but Blade knew that Shen was using that pain to fuel his fire. No one knew better than Blade how to use pain as fuel.

The next day Blade insisted on a sparring match with Shen to see how his fighting skills were. Shen wasn't the strongest fighter Blade had come across by any means. But he fought with emotion. His heart was full of anger and he used it to power his style. The technique was sloppy, but technique could be taught. Instinct was something you had or you didn't and the kid had instinct. Instinct and anger, two extremely important attributes to have when you were fighting a war against superhuman blood suckers.

Blade couldn't quite admit it to himself, but the mere fact that he had let Shen walk away mostly upright from the first sparring match was a good sign for things to come. Shen had almost left the room when he turned around to speak.

"Look I just have to put this out there. You've been doing this a long time. You got along without my help, and I have no doubts that you can continue to do so, but I have to tell you that you're fucking insane if you do. I have the technological skills to keep you in the most efficient and bad ass weaponry you've ever seen. I can keep your hide out safe and your organization running smooth. Don't get me wrong I'm gonna keep doing the job whether you want my help or not, but I've gotta tell ya, my services are totally wasted here. No one fighting this war can put me to as good a use as you and I think you should take me with you."

"No," was Blade's simple reply.

"Your loss. Same time tomorrow? "

Blade had already spent twice as long in New Orleans as he'd spent in any other city. In that time Shen had never mentioned going with Blade again. They spent day and night together. Shen showed Blade everything he knew about the city and Blade showed Shen the things that years of training made obvious to him but others rarely saw.

They sparred daily. Shen wasn't naive enough to think he was good enough to keep walking away as easily he had been so after the second sparring match he told Blade to stop going easy on him.

"What good is having someone with super strength on our side if I can't utilize `em for training. Now will you please attack me like you mean it?"

After that the sparring sessions took on a life of their own. Blade taught Shen as much as he could. They talked about fighting styles and techniques, talked about how emotions are a driving force. Shen shared his reasons for choosing the life he chose, the things that happened to put him on the path to where he is. Blade shared more of his life with Shen than he'd shared with anyone except Whistler and since Whistler was there for most of it it wasn't as if he'd actually had to "share" it out loud.

They grew closer to each other every day. Developed a bond that grew into respect and more importantly trust.

Blade got a call from Abigail that one of their sources had a tip about something big going down and that he should get to Moscow. In Moscow he learned the name of Marcus Van Sciver. He called Shen before his return to the states.

When he got back to New Orleans Shen had every dug up every bit of information on Van Sciver there was to be found. He had all the information ready for the move to Detroit.

There was no discussion necessary. Blade walked in the door. Shen gave him the information and they both knew that Blade wasn't going to Detroit without Shen at his side.

 


End file.
